Extension of the soil monitoring network via tea bag initiatives: A 3000 km latitudinal gradient in European Russia.

The increasing popularity and recognition of citizen science approaches to monitor soil health have promoted the idea to assess soil microbial decomposition based on a standard litter sample - tea bags. Although tea bag initiatives are expanding across the world, the global datasets remain biased in regard to investigating regions and biomes. This study aimed to expand the tea bag initiative to European Russia, which remains a "white spot" on the tea bag index map.

Does size matter? Modelling the cooling effect of green infrastructures in a megacity during a heat wave.

The vulnerability of urban ecosystems to global climate change becomes a key issue in research and political agendas. Urban green infrastructures (UGIs) are widely considered as a nature-based solution to mitigate climate change and adapt to local urban climate anomalies in cities. However, UGI-induced cooling effect depends on the size, location and geometry of green spaces, and such dependencies remain overlooked.

COVID-19 pandemic changes the recreational use of Moscow parks in space and time: Outcomes from crowd-sourcing and machine learning.

The limited access to urban green spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the human-nature interaction in cities and human well-being. Number of visitors to green areas, initially declined due to imposed restrictions, was restored after they were lifted as established by several studies across the globe However, little is still known about changes in behavior and preferences of park visitors in the post-COVID time. In this study, we investigated spatial-temporal patterns of recreational activities in the three urban parks in Moscow (Russia) prior, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown (in 2019 and 2020).

Diversity of Microbial Communities, PAHs, and Metals in Road and Leaf Dust of Functional Zones of Moscow and Murmansk.

The impact of geographical factors, functional zoning, and biotope type on the diversity of microbial communities and chemical components in the dust of urban ecosystems was studied. Comprehensive analyses of bacterial and fungal communities, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and metals in road and leaf dust in three urban zones of Murmansk and Moscow with contrasting anthropogenic load were conducted. We found that the structure of bacterial communities affected the functional zoning of the city, biotope type, and geographical components.

Temperature Sensitivity of Topsoil Organic Matter Decomposition Does Not Depend on Vegetation Types in Mountains.

Rising air temperatures caused by global warming affects microbial decomposition rate of soil organic matter (SOM). The temperature sensitivity of SOM decomposition (Q) may depend on SOM quality determined by vegetation type. In this study, we selected a long transect (3.